Faith In a Boat (Genesis 6:9–8:22)

This is the story of Noah (adapted from The Message):

Noah was a good man, a man of righteousness in his community. Noah walked with God. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

As far as God was concerned, the Earth had become a sewer; there was violence everywhere. God took one look and saw how bad it was, everyone corrupt and everyone corrupting—life itself was corrupt to the very core.

But God also saw Noah, the only righteous man on earth.

God came to Noah and informed him, “It’s all over. I’m done with the human race. Violence and wickedness are everywhere; I’m going to wash all the filth off the face of the earth.”

You might imagine what Noah was thinking here. The whole human race; even me, Lord?

Then God commanded, “Here’s what I want you to do, Noah: build yourself a boat from gopher wood. Build it with rooms. Coat it with pitch inside and out. Make it 450 feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and forty-five feet tall. Put a roof on it and put in a window eighteen inches from the top; put one door on the side of the ship; and make three decks: lower, middle, and upper.

Did you hear that? One door. There’s only one way in and one way out.

“And here’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to bring a flood on the earth that will destroy everything alive: total destruction. Nothing left… except you And your family … and enough animals to fit in your boat.

“I’m going to establish a covenant with you: You’ll board the ship: your sons, your wife and your sons’ wives. I also want you to take two of each living creature, a male and a female, on board the ship, to preserve their lives with you: two of every species of bird, mammal, and reptile—two of everything so as to preserve their lives along with yours. Make sure you supply the ship with the food you’ll need and put it in storage.”

We might imagine what Noah was thinking here. So many animals: will there be enough room? In a boat that size there was plenty of room for at least 7,000 animals.

Noah did everything God commanded him to do.

When the time was right, God informed Noah and his family, “It’s time to board the ship, you and all your family, and only you and your family; no one else is allowed on board, except the animals. For out of everyone in this generation, you’re the only righteous one.

In just seven days I’m going to break the earth’s crust so that water rushes out, and I’m going to open the windows of heaven and dump rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights. I’ll wash away all this corruption and evil from everything that I’ve made.”

Noah did everything God commanded him.

Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters covered the Earth. Noah and his wife and sons and their wives boarded the ship to escape the flood. Clean and unclean animals, birds, and all the crawling creatures came in pairs to Noah and to the ship, male and female, just as God had commanded Noah. In seven days the floodwaters came.

On the day Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, accompanied by his wife and his sons’ wives, boarded the ship, with every kind of wild and domestic animal, right down to all the kinds of creatures that crawl and all kinds of birds and anything that flies, that’s when it happened.

Then God shut the door behind him. You remember: that one door that God instructed Noah to place on one side of the ark. God shut it; and there was no other way for anyone else to get in. Just like today: Jesus is the only door of salvation for sinners. And just like today: all who come to Jesus are saved from God’s wrath.

After God shut the door, with Noah and his family, and representatives of all creatures on the earth and in the air safely aboard, all the underground springs erupted and all the windows of Heaven were thrown open. Rain poured down for forty days and forty nights.The flood continued forty days and the waters rose and lifted the ship high over the Earth. The waters kept rising, the flood deepened on the Earth, the ship floated on the surface. The flood got worse until the whole earth was covered—the high-water mark reached twenty-five feet above the crest of the mountains.

I can imagine what you’re thinking: Even the Himalayas? Have you heard of continental drift? It’s a reality.

Here’s what biblical archeologists tell us. Before the flood, there was one only one continent. So kangaroos in Australia didn’t have to swim to get to the ark. And there were no mountains like today: just hills and valleys. God used a once-in-time tectonic shift in the earth’s crust to open up the waters beneath. Then as the flood ceased, God caused the valleys to sink and the mountains to rise, and he set the boundaries of the waters gathered in oceans and seas. And after the flood, the continents began to drift far apart.

Here’s proof: Psalm 104:6–9 “You covered it with the deep as if it were a garment; the water stood above the mountains. At your rebuke the water fled; at the sound of your thunder they hurried away— mountains rose and valleys sank— to the place you established for them. You set a boundary they cannot cross; they will never cover the earth again.”

Geologists tell us that today, if the earth was flattened, there is enough water in the oceans and seas to cover the whole earth under two miles of water. Water covered the entire earth. Everything died. Anything that moved—dead. Birds, farm animals, wild animals, the entire teeming exuberance of life—dead. And all people—dead. Every living, breathing creature that lived on dry land died; he wiped out the whole works—people and animals, crawling creatures and flying birds, every last one of them, gone. Only Noah and his family, and the animals on the boat lived.

Then God remembered his covenant with Noah. When God remembers, he turns his attention to those he made a promise. So God turned his attention to Noah and his family, and all the animals with them on the boat. God caused a great wind to blow and the floodwaters began to go down. God shut off the underground springs, He closed the windows of Heaven, the rain stopped. Inch by inch the flood lowered. After 150 days, it was over.

Five months after the rain started, the ship landed on the mountains of Ararat. The water kept going down for another three months. Finally, after living in that boat for eight months, the tops of the mountains came into view.

Noah waited another forty days, then he opened the window of the ship. He sent out a raven; it flew back and forth waiting for the floodwaters to dry up. Then he sent a dove to check on the flood conditions, but it couldn’t even find a place to perch—water still covered the Earth — and so the dove flew back to the ship, and Noah brought it safely inside.

Noah waited another seven days and sent out the dove again. Low and behold, the dove came back in the evening with a freshly picked olive leaf in its beak. Noah knew that the flood was about finished, but he waited another seven days and sent the dove out a third time. This time it didn’t come back.

So, almost eleven months after God shut Noah and his family, and all those animals, inside the boat, the flood dried up. Noah opened the door of the boat and saw dry ground. What a sight! Finally, a year after God sent the flood, the Earth was completely dry.

God instructed Noah: “Leave the ship, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives. And take all the animals with you, the whole menagerie of birds and mammals and crawling creatures, all that brimming and breathing prospect of life, so they can reproduce and flourish on the Earth.”

Noah and his family disembarked from the ship, along with all the animals, crawling creatures, birds—every creature on the face of the Earth—left the ship family by family.

In gratitude and worship, Noah built an altar to GOD. He selected clean animals and birds from every species and offered them as burnt offerings on the altar.

God smelled the sweet fragrance of Noah’s sacrifice rising up from the purified earth, and promised, “I will never again curse the ground because of people. I know humankind are bent toward evil from an early age, but I’ll never again kill off everything living as I’ve just done. For as long as Earth lasts, planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, will never stop.”

And so humankind and living creatures were saved. God replenished the earth, and all living creatures were fruitful and multiplied, just as God commanded.

APPLICATION

The Story says something about God.

God is holy and just.

God sees our sin

God judges our sin

God purges our sin

God is sovereign.

He rules the elements of the universe

He commands the inhabitants on the earth

He accomplishes his will

God is full of mercy and grace.

He sees righteousness

He makes covenants

He saves the faithful from his wrath (one door)

This story says something about Noah.

In a world of corruption and darkness, he walked with God.

He walked in integrity

He walked in purity

He walked in obedience

In a world of uncertainty and chaos, he was humble and patient.

In a world of godless pride, he worshiped the Lord alone.

He built an altar

He gave a sacrifice that was pleasing to God

This story says something to us.

Walk as children of light (Ephesians 5:8-10; 15-17)

Do everything God commands (John 14:15)

Present your life as a pleasing sacrifice to God (Romans 12:1-2)